Iran to extend gas pipeline to Iraq, Syria

Moscow: Tehran is planning to build a gas pipeline up to Iraq and Syria, the Iranian Oil Ministry said Wednesday.

"A 56-inch pipeline is to be laid from Assaluyeh (near the South Pars gas field in southern Iran) to the Iran-Iraq border to feed three Iraqi power plants running on gas," Press TV reported ministry`s spokesperson as saying.

A tripartite meeting will soon be held in Baghdad between Iran, Syria and Iraq to develop a plan for extending the pipeline from Iraq to Syria, he added.

Iraq has requested 30 million cubic metres of natural gas per day from Iran in the first phase, which is scheduled to come on-stream by next summer, Nikzad Rahbar said.

Syria has requested 25-30 million cubic metres per day. But the route for the pipeline from Baghdad to the Syrian border is yet to be surveyed, he added.

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said in July that his country, which has the world`s second largest natural gas reserves after Russia, should start exporting gas to Iraq by March 2013.